Peyton Manning #18 of the Indianapolis Colts looks on from the sideline in the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game at Lucas Oli Stadium on January 16, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Thirteen teams threw at least 550 passes during the regular season. The Broncos were one of those 13 teams.

Just two of the 13 are among the postseason’s final four. The Broncos are not one of those.

The two are Indianapolis and Minnesota, which have Hall of Fame quarterbacks behind center.

Coincidence?

Uh, no.

The rule book is structured so teams will throw, the league’s power brokers want teams to throw and fans want teams to throw. But if those teams don’t have a once-in-a-franchise quarterback behind center, an offense that off-balance, that dependent on the passing game, they are simply going to have a difficult time getting to the trophy game.

The Colts threw the ball 601 times this season — second in the league behind the dismal Seahawks. The Colts ran the ball just 396 times.

That’s 60.3 percent of their offensive plays coming through the air. But they have Peyton Manning, the league’s first four-time MVP winner, calling the plays and running the show.

The Vikings threw the ball 553 times during the regular season, or 54.2 percent of their offensive plays, a far more balanced approach from a team that ran 74 more plays overall — or roughly a game’s worth — than the Colts.

They have a three-time MVP in Brett Favre winging it.

The point is the Broncos were ninth in the league in the regular season with 558 pass attempts, 14th in the league in rushing attempts, struggled in short yardage.

So they threw a lot and didn’t have much to show for it. And they have to run it better before any of those numbers change much.

Unless, of course, they intend on snatching up somebody’s Hall of Fame quarterback in the near future.

When they were 6-0, the Broncos ran the ball 48.8 percent of the time and threw it 51.2 percent. That’s a fairly good balance in this pass-happy time in the league.

In the 2-8 crumble down the stretch, the Broncos ran the ball 41.2 percent of the time and threw it 58.8 percent of the time. The offense lost its balance, fell and could not get up.

The Broncos’ offense is a close facsimile to what Josh McDaniels ran in New England, which, for the record, has a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Tom Brady.

So while so much time and breathless commentary has been spent on how the Broncos throw the ball and what they need to throw it better, the difference on that side of the ball in 2010 will be how well they run it.

That translates to how much they make a defense commit to the line of scrimmage, adding players to the front line to give the Broncos’ receivers more room to work. That’s especially true in an offense that doesn’t have much play-action in it and works out of the shotgun so much.

That is a rather significant question with so much turnover on tap in the offensive front. Pro Bowl left tackle Ryan Clady is the only given in the offensive line right now with Ben Hamilton not expected back, Casey Wiegmann’s future uncertain to go with Russ Hochstein and Ryan Harris each coming off surgery.

While free agency and the draft can be so much talk-talk about the glamour positions, the Broncos need to go beyond that.

They need a few more grass stains in their playbook, a little more dirt under their fingernails and a little bigger commitment to pushing the ball down the field on offense rather than trying to throw their way out of trouble.

WASHINGTON — Thirty games into the 82-game NHL season, and nearly six weeks after the Matt Duchene trade, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic discussed the state of his team before Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the Washington Capitals.